In re K.D. CA4/2

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

Detention

In early June of 2012, father beat up the child’s mother (mother) in the child’s

presence and while the child’s eight-year-old half brother2 was in the house.3 When

1 All section references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise indicated.

2 The child’s half brother is not a subject of this appeal. He was placed with his paternal grandparents.

3 The exact chain of events in June 2012 is not perfectly clear from the detention report dated June 22, 2012. The parents apparently argued on a regular basis in the presence of the child and his brother, and this often turned violent. Mother and the child changed residences on at least two occasions in May and June, including once to a domestic violence shelter that she left without notice. Mother at one point allowed father to move back in with her and the child.

2 Father repeated this action the following day, mother asked the brother to call police.

This took place during a fight between the parents that included them arguing over the

child and exchanging him back and forth between them. Police arrested father for

domestic violence and found him to be under the influence of…